A native of New Zealand, Wayne McCallum has lived and worked in Cambodia since 2004. In this time he has been pecked by sarus cranes, had a camera destroyed by orangutans and been punched by an angry elephant. A regular contributor to the Mekong Review, he is the author of two books, the most recent of which - A River and a Valley Far Away (2016) - recounts stories from his time living and working in the remote jungles of southern Cambodia. In 2015 Wayne co-founded the lower Mekong's largest annual literature event, the Kampot Readers and Writers Festival.